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 Just leant about this new web search tool, Mahalo.  Mahalo, which means “Thank you” in Hawaiian, was launched quite recently as another people-powered search tool with results that it claims to be spam-free, based on quality, and filtered by real people.  You may search this collection of selected web sites or you may browse by popular category.  I have to admit, this search engine is quite pleasant to the eye and so easy to browse!  A simple search for “diets” gave me results broken down to “The Mahalo Top 7”, “Diet News” “Diet Reviews and Comparisons,” etc.   On the very top of my results I also found a great, direct link to a Mahalo web page, “How to Lose Weight,” which was built by one of the Mahalo “guides”.  Although the author/guide of this article has an academic background that does not seem to relate to the area of nutrition, I still thought that the information she provided about weight loss was well researched and presented, easy to follow, with a lot of useful links for additional information.

Want to try a search engine with a similar set up?   About.com has been in existence for some time now, one of the first to claim that it provides “expert guidance from real people searching the Internet for the information, goods, and services that you need to know related to your passion.”

So, how do tools such as Mahalo or About.com compare to Google or Yahoo? I think that the expectation here of their own creators is that these search tools are particularly useful to people who want answers to common, popular subjects. Those doing a more thorough search or hunting after unusual information will probably still have to turn to big giants such as Google and Yahoo.

 Hey, give them a try and see what YOU think!